Page 309 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
P. 309
Around the World in 80 Days
Towards noon Phileas Fogg, having ascertained their
position, called Passepartout, and ordered him to go for
Captain Speedy. It was as if the honest fellow had been
commanded to unchain a tiger. He went to the poop,
saying to himself, ‘He will be like a madman!’
In a few moments, with cries and oaths, a bomb
appeared on the poop-deck. The bomb was Captain
Speedy. It was clear that he was on the point of bursting.
‘Where are we?’ were the first words his anger permitted
him to utter. Had the poor man be an apoplectic, he could
never have recovered from his paroxysm of wrath.
‘Where are we?’ he repeated, with purple face.
‘Seven hundred and seven miles from Liverpool,’
replied Mr. Fogg, with imperturbable calmness.
‘Pirate!’ cried Captain Speedy.
‘I have sent for you, sir—‘
‘Pickaroon!’
‘—sir,’ continued Mr. Fogg, ‘to ask you to sell me your
vessel.’
‘No! By all the devils, no!’
‘But I shall be obliged to burn her.’
‘Burn the Henrietta!’
‘Yes; at least the upper part of her. The coal has given
out.’
308 of 339